This invention relates to automatic telephone answering systems which simulate conversations and more particularly to a monitor which alerts an operator to selected portions of simulated telephone conversations. The operator, by then listening to these selected portions, can determine whether to intervene in the simulated conversation.
Telephone answering systems have developed to the point where simulated conversations are now possible. Such systems are capable of answering a ringing telephone line and playing a series of prerecorded messages to the caller. The caller's responses to these messages are recorded by the system for later review. One of the important advantages of these systems is that the information imparted by the caller may be extracted from the recorded responses more quickly than from the live caller. This allows a given number of operating personnel to service a larger number of calls than otherwise would be possible.
For example, a conversation simulator may be used to record requests for taxi cabs. In this application, the simulator would employ recorded messages to ask the caller when and where the taxi cab was needed. An operator would then review the recorded information and dispatch the cab.
It is often desirable to provide a monitor for use with a conversation simulator which broadcasts the caller's responses on a speaker as they are being recorded by the simulator. The operator can listen to the responses to determine whether the caller's needs are being met by the simulator. For instance, in the above example, an operator could determine by listening to the speaker if a caller were asking for price information rather than ordering a cab. The operator could then intervene to answer the particular questions of the caller.
Though various monitors have been used, they are subject to certain drawbacks and deficiencies. One disadvantage of prior art monitors is that they have typically transmitted all caller responses to the operator via the speaker. Thus, the operator was required to listen to all responses in order to select those callers who needed assistance. In many cases, this resulted in an unnecessarily large number of responses being transmitted over the monitor. Thus, in the above example, a nonselective monitor would carry all of the standard responses involved in ordering a cab as well as the nonstandard responses which require assistance. In such case, the nonselective monitor of the prior art could be unduly distracting to the operator. These unnecessary distractions may significantly reduce the working efficiency of the operators in some applications.